Naruto Plot Bunny Hutch
by kage kitsune 14
Summary: All my plot bunnies for Naruto. If you want one of them written please review and tell me. Please!
1. Perfect Recall

**Perfect Recall**

**Summary: Naruto has all his "bad" memories blocked. This damages some functions of his brain. When he used Kyuubi's chakra in Wave it weakened the blocks. When he used Kyuubi's chakra in the Forest of Death the blocks shattered and he fell unconscious before Oroschimaru could use the five season seal.**

Naruto stood up to his ankles in murky sewer water. He didn't recognize this place but it felt familiar. As soon as he acknowledged the feeling he was hit with rapid memories of his life.

His birth, his mother, his father, a masked man who took him from the saftey of his father's arms and threatened to kill him, the Kyuubi coming out of his mother, a flash of yellow, the sensation of ink on his stomach, the pain of youkai being flooded through his system, countless assassination attempts, mob beatings, his academy years, the Mizuki incident, the Wave mission, the grass nin attacking his team, then nothing.

He was back in the sewer and now he recognized it. This was the representation of his mind.

The old man had Inoichi Yamanaka seal away his worst memories. Well that didn't help very much. It just made him a goofy idiot.

He focused on what he wanted his mind to look like and slowly the sewer faded away. There was now a forest path, next to the path was a stream which was were his memories were.

Naruto sighed as he walked down the forest path toward the darker part of the forest. When he had walked quite a while he found a huge cave with bars across the entrance.

As soon as he got close to the cave a massive paw shot out to hit him. It stopped an inch before it hit his face, it had been stopped by the seal.

"You must be the Kyuubi." Naruto stated studying the maw that was now shown in the light.

"Stupid human. If it weren't for this seal, I would eat you." The giant nine tailed fox growled.

"Too bad for you." Naruto said blandly.

"What do you want you dumb creature." The fox asked.

"Nothing." Naruto said. "I was brought here because using your chakra cause the mind seals they placed on me to break." He explained.

Kyuubi growled in annoyance. "Get out!" He growled sending out a wave of red chakra pushing Naruto out of his mindscape.


	2. The Story of Team Five

**The Story of Team Five**

**Chapter one: Introducing the Team**

Takashi's P.O.V.

Iruka-sensei stood in front of the class listing of the teams of new genin.

"Team 5: Satoshi Jishin (Quick-witted Earthquake), Takeshi Nadare (Fierce Avalanche), and Setsu Tatsumaki (Temperate Tornado). Your sensei is Kaikou Katonashi (Port Safe)." I looked over to my two new teammates.

Our team was a good match. We weren't super close but we were friends. We lived several blocks from each other and we balanced strengths perfectly.

When Iruka-sensei listed off team seven Naruto Uzumaki the class dobe had a fit when he was put on the same team as the Rookie of the Year Sasuke Uchiha. Not that I blamed him, not at all. Look what Uchiha's older brother did to his family, imagine what an Uchiha could do to people he didn't like. It was like holding a copperhead. It was safe during the winter when it was sluggish and needed the warm you provided but as soon as you weren't useful anymore you were disposable.

"You're all dismissed for lunch, be back in an hour to meet your senseis." Iruka-sensei said. All three of our team nodded at each other and jumped out the windows together. We landed lightly three stories down using a little chakra to cushin our impact.

"So where do you want to go?" I asked as we strolled casually down the bustling streets.

"Ramen."

"Dango."

Both replies came quickly nearly at the same time overlapping each other. The had instantly shouted their favorite foods at the same time.

"What about Soba or Bar-b-que?" I asked trying to find a neutral food they would both like.

"Bar-b-que." Was the unanimous reply.

I smiled at my teammates. We would work well together.

"Let's go to the place down the street. We can get to know each other and discuss a way to pass the second test." I suggested.

Setsu nodded and Satoshi grinned widely.

We found a small corner booth in the back of the restraunt. When the waiter came over we ordered three plates of bar-b-que and three glasses of green tea.

We waited until the waiter left and then began to talk softly. We made small talk until the waiter came back with the plates of meat and tea. The waiter placed the meat on the grill in the middle of the table to cook then left.

As soon as he was gone we began to talk about serious things.

"Let's introduce ourselves." I suggested. It seems I was carrying the conversation. That or the other two had decided I was the leader, which was somewhat unlikely.

Satoshi immedeatly perked up. "My name is Satoshi Jishin. I like helping my father at his grocery store, learning about wild plants that can be used in medicines and poisons, sweet foods, and training. I dislike foods that make my mouth dry and people who think being a ninja is just a game. My hobbies are making poisons and medicines and learning new medical techniques. My dream is to become a jounin and join the T&I division of ANBU." Satoshi said happily.

I stared at him. He wanted to join the T&I division? He was way to perky for that kind of job. Oh well, maybe he will mellow out into that kind of person.

"My name is Setsu Tatsumaki. I like designing clothes for my father's shop, reading, sweet foods, and training. I dislike bitter foods, and people who don't try to improve or do their best. My hobbies are reading, training, and designing clothes. My dream is to be an ANBU after becoming a jounin." She said smiling.

Wow, she has her whole liife planned.

"Okay, my name is Takeshi Nadare. I like reading, sweets, swimming and training. I dislike spicy foods, fangirls, and people who become ninja just to impress others. My hobbies are making and learning new jutsus and running laps around Konoha while trying to avoid the self proclaimed "Green Beasts". My dream is to become a famous ANBU and get my name in the BINGO books." I finished off our introductions.

Our food was done by that time so we made small talk while we ate.

Setsu liked to train early in the mornings because no one was up to bother her. Satoshi liked training near twilight because that's when most people where going home and he said it improved his aim if he practiced in the dark. I personally liked training right after the academy because the other students were hanging out with friends so I had the training ground to myself.

We all agreed to have at least two practice sessions a day together, in addition to whatever our sensei did with us. That way we could improve more together.

Setsu agreed to get her dad to make us a "team uniform" that she would design herself. We all pitched in ideas to help. Eventually we decided to have black ninja pants, with gray wrapping tape; long sleeved netted tee-shirts, also black; and gray vests with a picture on the back. The picture would be of a tornado, earthquake, and avalanche hitting at the same time and causing destruction to a shadow person. On the bottom of each vest it would have our names, Nadare, Tatsumaki, and Jishin. On the top of each vest would say Team Five.

We were very confident in our ability to work together to make the mission succeed.

"All for one and one for all?" Setsu suggested putting her hand out hovering above the middle of the table.

"All for one and one for all." Both Satoshi and I agreed.

"We're gonna be the best team ever." Satoshi cheered.

Both Setsu and I nodded with indulgent smiles.

We took five minutes to get back to the classroom walking at a civilian pace. We were comfortably silent the whole way back. We just fit. No need to fill the emptiness. We were content together.


	3. Catalyst

**Catalyst**

**Chapter One: The substance**

Catalyst: (n) A substance that speeds up a chemical reaction or enables it to proceed under different conditions.

Summary: Young Sakura sees something that inspires her to work harder. She will be a powerful kunochi.

Six year old Sakura Haruno slipped away from her tormenters. The other children were like sharks in her mind. One drew blood, figuratively of course, and the rest swarmed in to try to make her bleed a little more. They would pick on her forehead, her hair color, her eye color, her name, anything they could find fault in.

She sniffed slightly. She was used to the treatment but that didn't mean she was happy about it. Her peers had always picked on her. She was also used to being alone. She was ocstrized by all her peers and had no friends.

Her parents owned a bookstore, it was half shinobi, half civilian. Sometimes she would sit in the storage room and read the extra books, the shinobi ones of course. She would occasionally go for a civilian book but she was much more interested in shinobi things. She wanted to be a ninja. Not only for the respect she would get from it but also for the added security she would have knowing that none of the civilian children would be able to actually hurt her.

Sometimes she would practice the taijutsu she read about. One of her favorite taijutsus to practice was the medic nin taijutsu. It centered on dodging attacks and avoiding damage. Which was good for her because she wasn't strong enough to block most attacks from other ninja. She also mixed it with another taijutsu that centered on quick strikes and even quicker withdrawls. It was perfect for her size but she would need some sort of weapon to maximize her efficency. She would also have to work on her speed for both things.

The training grounds she used were over run with weeds, broke down, and obviously unused and uncared for, on the outside that is. After you got past the first layer she had cleaned the inner grounds so she could work easier. It was hers. No one bothered her here.

She looked around to make sure no one had followed her before slipping into her training grounds. She pulled on her leather gloves, she had used her birthday money to get them, and began punching one of the logs she had set up. It was nearly taller than she was but that was okay for now. She began counting. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10... 98,99,100." She finally reached 100 an hour later. She wiped her forehead off on her sleeve. And moved to start over with her next arm. When she reached 100 for that arm as well she sat down to get a drink and eat the lunch she had packed.

She then began her kicks. Hundred for each leg. When she was done her bangs were sticking to her forehead slick with sweat. Her fists and legs were sore but they would get better later. She slid to the ground leaning against the pole she had been working at. After she regained her breath she drank down half of her water bottle and dumped the rest over her head.

She set up her targets and began practicing her kunai and shuriken practice.

A few weeks ago she had seen an ANBU practicing and it had inspired her.

Flashback:

She stumbled over a hidden root and tumbled right into a training ground. A used training ground. She scrambled to her feet but the ANBU who was practicing his kunai throwing didn't even pay attention to her.

She watched in awe as he jumped up spinning so he was falling head towards the ground and span as he threw twelve kunai. Eleven kunai hit eleven targets with a thud and the twelfth kunai seemed to disappear. The ninja flipped gracefully and landed on his feet.

She watched it happen repeatedly until she saw the pattern. The twelfth kunai would hit the eleventh kunai at percisely the right angle sending it flying backwards at just the right angle to hit the eleventh target.

She watched his throwing technique and mentally corrected her own grip.

Finally the man turned to her. The mask creeped her out a little but she didn't let it show, she was still admiring the way he threw his weapons with such practiced ease.

"Shouldn't you be running home, little one?" He asked his voice was monotoned but it was a beautiful voice nonetheless.

Sakura glanced up at the sky and gasped in shock at how far the sun had gone down.

"Bye, ANBU-sama!" She called over her shoulder as she ran towards her home using a small burst of chakra to jump onto the tree branches.

"Interesting." The ANBU muttered to himself as he saw the young child probabily not even in the academy use her chakra like a seasoned genin.

End Flashback

Now everytime she practiced kunai throwing she used the same target set up he did. She had started it on the ground first so she didn't accidently break her neck. Soon she was able to do exactly what he could do. She would do it backwards, upsidedown, sideways, spinning, hanging, and any other position she thought she could get herself in.

Over time she learned to use her chakra to stick to surfaces and it added even more variety, and intensity to her training sessions.

She learned to walk on walls and water, and she even used some Christmas money to buy herself chakra weights which added weight proportional to the amount of chakra added to them. She bought a black training outfit, short sleeved black t-shirt and black form fitting capris, that hugged her frame snuggly.

She had no way of knowing that if she stayed at the playground only two minutes longer she would've had a friend and become a fangirl. But she didn't know so she was much more driven and powerful.

Over time she began eating more food. She needed all the extra calories to keep up with the training she put it through. Soon she was lithely muscled, and she bought a long sleeved t-shirt to hide her new made muscles. She hid most of her talent by pretending to have an infatuation with Sasuke Uchiha. She thought he was cute and all but he had the personality of a rock. A very rude rock.

Six years passed with the same routine. She added little things here and there such as a couple new weapons. She had got a wazashi and a pair of knuckle knives. They were just metal knuckles with a knife sticking out the side that was towards the pinkie finger. She used them both everytime she practiced but she didn't let anyone know about her weapons or real abilities but her parents who quietly watched their little girl act like a fool while actually training fiercely to not be a fool.

She made a few aquentices but no real friends. She played Go and Shougi with Shikamaru Nara. He won most of the time but she actually made him work for his wins unlike other players. She would also talk to Hinata Hyuga who was actually a pretty nice person once she got passed the stuttering. She would talk about medicine with her. And one older student Tenten, she would discuss weapons with her.

She had changed her outfit over the years. She now wore a jade colored skirt over black spandex shorts and a jade vest over her black long sleeved t-shirt.

She had also started using senbon, and poisons. Mostly paralyzing agents, than actual poisons.

She had made up her own taijutsu style which was a mix of medic nin taijutsu, the blitzing taijutsu and a little bit of Hyuga Juuken which they wouldn't recognize because she only used the injecting chakra part. She would create medical chakra and inject it into her opponents body, it was a sort of mini chakra scalpel attack. She called her taijutsu Hanaken (flower fist) because it looked pretty and gentle but it had hidden strength. Almost like a rose had hidden thorns.

Her taijutsu allowed the use of nin, gen, ken, tai, and medic jutsu. It was nearly a perfect style. The only problem would be if her opponent was faster than her, immune to genjutsu, or had more stamina than her. She worked on all those things to make sure it didn't happen because of negligence on her part.

The graduation test was laughably easy for her and she decided she was dropping the mask now that she had graduated. When she got her new sensei she was going all out to show that kunochi could be strong too.

The next day Sakura woke up at her usual time of 5 am and went for her excercise. She decided to do laps around the village instead of around her usual training ground. She began her run, she moved at a chunin speed to start, she could run faster if she took off her weights but she wanted to have her weights as a trump card and it was kind of nice to know she could move this fast with weights.

She was on her fourth lap when she passed a man wearing green spandex. She looked over her shoulder in a kind of double take. Yep, she had just seen what she thought she saw. A man with a bowl hair cut, large bushy eyebrows, and a full body green spandex suit, with orange leg warmers.

"I've seen weirder things." She muttered trying to convince herself. "No, no I haven't." She corrected herself.

Then the man was running beside her.

"Ah! Who is this lovely flower in her spring time of youth?" He asked loudly and enthusiasticly.

"Um..." She was momentarily stunned. "Sakura Haruno." She answered as she unconsciously sped up trying to get away from the weird man.

"I'm Guy Might!" He shouted loudly. "The beautiful Green Beast of Konoha." He added.

Five. Sakura thought to herself as she passed her starting point again.

"Nice to meet you. Do you happen to be the jounin sensei of Tenten and her team?" She asked easily keeping up and keeping her breath easy and relaxed.

"Yosh! You know my youthful student?" He asked.

"Sure. Tenten and I talk about weapons all the time." She answered.

Six.

"Ah, you must be a genin then." He stated.

"Just graduated the academy." Sakura answered. "I haven't been assigned a team yet."

"Ah how youthful. Can you run faster?" He asked curiously.

"I could." Sakura answered.

"Let's speed up then. Or you will be late for your meeting." He answered speeding up.

Sakura forced herself to move faster. She wouldn't remove the weights until it was absolutely nessessary.

Soon she was panting at the much harder pace. She continplated removing her weights but she was at lap 15 and she only had five more in her work out anyway. It would be good endurance training running with her weights even though she was exausted.

She finished lap 20 and then had to run to her class.

She ran in the room just after her sensei.

"Sakura why are you late?" Iruka asked.

"I -huff- got -huff- in a -huff- talk with -huff- Might Guy- huff." Sakura huffed. Only people who knew Guy well knew he ran laps at this time, so Kakashi, the Hokage, Asuma, and Kurenai knew she had been running with him. The were amazed she didn't drop of exaustion as soon as she came in after all she was a weak fangirl and Guy was the best taijutsu master in the village.

"That's no excuse." Iruka said not knowing who Might Guy is.

"Dare you to run with Might Guy and not be exausted." Sakura muttered mutinously as she took an open seat by Shikamaru.

"Anyway as I was saying before we were interupted..." Iruka continued on with his graduation speech. Sakura laid her head down on the table concentrating on her breath to steady it back to normal. Soon her breath calmed enough to pass for sleeping. She slipped into a light meditation.

_"Inner"_ She thought to her alternate personality.

_**"Yes, Outer?"**_ She responed.

_"Are you ready in case I need to use our hijutsu?"_ Sakura asked.

_**"Of course. I'm always ready to have a chance out."**_ Inner replied.

Her split personality had developed when she was young, before she had started training. When it was her against the world. Now that she was confident in herself the personality wasn't as prominent but it was still there and she could access it whenever she needed to. Her split was physically stronger, which was odd because it was just a personality, and also had more chakra which she could use herself or pass to Sakura to use.

_"Kay"_ She answered waking up from her meditation.

"Team Seven: Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, (Sakura barely hid a groan here) and Naruto Uzumaki (She couldn't hide her groan at that.)." Iruka announced.

Sakura didn't complain mostly because Iruka was already upset she was late.

"Team Eight: Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame. Team Nine is still in circulation. Team Ten: Shikamaru Nara, Chouji Akamichi, and Ino Yamanaka. You are dismissed for lunch come back in an hour to meet your senseis." Iruka said.

Sakura instantly left through the window. She landed lightly on the ground two floors below.

She slipped off to eat at Ichiraku Raman Stand. It had a lot of carbs, which meant a lot of energy. It wasn't healthy but it would get her energized and she could afford to eat unhealthily every once and awhile.

"Sakura!" A now familiar shout caught her attention. She plastered a smile on her face an turned to face Guy.

"Hello, Guy-sensei." Sakura answered pleasently.

"Meet my youthful students. This is Neji Hyuga." He gestured to the long haired boy who had white eyes. He acted like an older Sasuke. "This is Rock Lee." He gestured to his mini me. "And last but not least, you know Tenten." He introduced gesturing to said girl.

"Nice to meet you." Sakura said to Neji and Lee. "And its nice to see you again, Tenten." She finished turning to said kunochi.

"Nice to see you too, Sakura. You want to have our usual spar today?" Tenten returned. Sakura usually had a spar a week with Tenten to sharpen her weapons skills.

"Um. I have to meet my sensei soon. I was just about to get lunch. You want to join me?" She asked the team as a whole.

"Yosh!" Both Lee and Guy eagerly agreed. Neji said nothing but his frown deepened. Tenten nodded. I pushed the flap back and sat down at the bar.

"Excuse me? Three bowls of your beef special." Sakura ordered as she sat down.

"Hello Sakura-chan. Have a hard work out today? You don't usually eat so much unless you need the carbs." Ayame said after she called back the order to her father.

"I went on a nice jog with Guy, here." Sakura replied gesturing to said jounin.

"Running with jounin now Sakura? Practicing by yourself not enough? You'd think with the cement blocks you carry on your feet you wouldn't need anymore of a challenge." Ayame joked.

"Its not a cement block." Sakura returned easily. It was obvious this argument happened a lot. "They're not that heavy anyway." She said as an after thought.

"How much are they at now? Eight hundred kilos still?" She asked.

Sakura blushed. "Actually their at a thousand now." She muttered embarassed.

"What are at a thousand?" Tenten asked having a sinking feeling.

"My weights." Sakura muttered embarassed.

"You wear weights?" Lee asked sounding enthusiastic.

"Yeah, I rarely take them off. Just every so often to get used to my new speed without them." Sakura answered.

"Marvolus! You are truely in your spring time of Youth!" Guy shouted excitedly.

"Would you care for a taijutsu spar with me?" Lee asked sounding eager.

"Fine, after I meet my sensei when I have some free time." Sakura answered.

She muttered the polite Idakamasu as she quickly ate her three bowls at record speed.

Ayame held up a speed watch and clicked as soon as Sakura finished her third bowl.

"Minute and a half." Ayame replied to Sakura's unasked question. "Not quite fast enough to beat Naruto-kun's score."

Sakura frowned. "There is now way he is human. No normal human can eat as fast as he does." She muttered jealously.

"Sorry Sakura, you're not going to be the fastest in this." Ayame told her.

"I know, but I'm still going to try." She answered as she paid for her food.

"So I'll see you in a couple days. I'll try to catch up for a spar after I meet my sensei." Sakura said as she left for the academy.

"See you later, Sakura!" Three voices called after her. Neji hadn't said anything.

Sakura slid into her seat just as the rest of the genin hopefuls entered.

"Team Eight. I'm Kurenai. I'm your sensei. Let's go." A black haired, red eyed woman said. She lead her team out of the room.

"Team Ten." A man with a cigerette and goatee called.

Soon the only team left was Team Seven. Sakura was reading a scroll on anatomy, not that she need to, she had already memorized it.

Naruto was glaring at Sasuke.

Sasuke was glaring at the wall.

Naruto finally got up and set a chalk board duster in the small opening in the sliding door so it would fall on the person who openned it.

Sakura looked up over her scroll. "You should put itching powder or something on it." She said from where she sat.

"Wha?" Naruto asked.

"It would make it more dangerous than just chalk dust. Think of it as a trap exercise. If it was a real trap you would use poison dust or something like that but since you don't want to actually kill him, you should just use something to irritate and humilate him." Sakura explained.

"I don't have any itching powder." He said.

"Well remember it for next time." Sakura shrugged looking back to her scroll.

Several minutes later their sensei entered, the eraser dropping on his mop of silver hair.

"My first impression is I hate you." He stated.

"See Naruto. Now imagine how he would've felt if you had used itching powder or a powdered poison." Sakura explained. "He's upset with just chalk dust, imagine how much more annoyed he'd be with something actually threatening."

Naruto nodded in understanding.

Kakashi looked at his genin with something akin to complete confusion. Most genin were thrown off by their sensei saying he hated them.

"Hm." He coughed to get his genin's attention back. "Meet me on the roof." He said disappearing in a whirl of leaves.

Both Sasuke and Naruto went for the stairs competitively. Sakura walked right out the window and up the wall. She landed silently on the top of the roof, her sandles making no sound even on the tile of the roof.

"Impressive." A voice muttered from off to the side. She turned to look at her sensei.

"It is? I've been able to do that since I was eight." She replied cluelessly.

"Most don't learn it until they're on a genin team." He replied.

Just then Naruto and Sasuke burst out of the doors onto the roof.

"Ma you guys are really slow." Kakashi said to the male students.

They glared at him.

"Alright let's introduce ourselves. Names, Likes, Dislikes, Hobbies, Dreams for the future." Kakashi ordered.

"Why don't you go first. We don't know you at all and you've probabily already read our files." Sakura interjected.

"Me? Okay,My name is Kakashi Hatake, I don't want to share my likes or dislikes. Hobbies I have a few. Dreams for the future... I've never really thought about it. Okay you next blondie."

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, Dattabayo! I like ramen, especially the ramen Iruka-sensei gets me from Ichiraku. I don't like the three minutes it takes for ramen to cook. My hobbies... pranks, I guess. And my dream is to be the greatest Hokage ever! Then people will stop disrespecting me and actually treat me like I deserve to exist."

"Hm. The dark one." Kakashi gestured to Sasuke.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I don't like much and I dislike a lot of things. My hobby is training. And I don't have a dream because I will make it a reality. I will revive my clan and kill a certain someone." Sasuke's hands were clasped together in front of his mouth almost in a 'snake' hand seal so no one saw the cruel smile that spread across his face at the thought of killing that someone.

"And pinkie you last." Kakashi turned to Sakura his eye doing an upside down U.

"My name is Sakura Haruno. I like sweet foods like dango, I dislike idiots and fools. My hobbies are playing shougi, reading, and sparing with my friends. My dream is to become the best Kunochi in the whole village, and to get in ANBU.

"Why do you say just best kunochi and not best ninja?" Kakashi asked.

"Because everyone knows girls beat boys. So if I'm the best kunochi its obvious I would be the best out of all the shinobi too." Sakura said like it was obvious.

"Wait why do you think girls beat boys. All the Hokages were guys." Naruto asked.

"Because, first off: whenever a pervert is spotted at the hotspring no matter the level a bunch of angry civilian women will beat the guy to a pulp. And secondly: No woman is stupid enough to want the Hokage position when they can work behind the scenes. Who is stupid enough to want all that paperwork anyway?" Sakura responded promptly.

Kakashi barely restrained himself from face palming. She had a point and Kami above he wished she was wrong.

Naruto was gaping at her like she had slapped him. Sasuke looked just as cool as ever.

"Anyway, meet me tomorrow at training ground 7 at 6 am sharp. We have survival training." Kakashi said

"But sensei we've done survival training in the academy." Sakura protested. She would much rather be sparing with Tenten then redo training she had already passed.

"Not like this you haven't."

"What's so different about it?" Naruto asked hands behind his head in the picture of relaxation.

Kakashi chuckled. "You won't like it." He paused and waited until he had all eyes on him.

"Out of the 28 graduates...only 9 will actually become genin." Kakashi dropped the proverbial bomb.

Naruto looked outraged. "What was the graduation test for?" He demanded.

"Oh, that? That was to weed out the ones that aren't even capable of becoming genin." Kakashi answered nochantly.

"Remember, training ground seven at six." Kakashi turned to leave. "Oh, and don't eat breakfest... you'll just puke it up later." Then he disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

"That doesn't make any sense." Sakura sighed exasperated. "Why seperate us into teams if they're just going to have to reform them around the ones that successfully pass? And one of the first rules we went over in the academy is that food gives you energy."

Naruto looked at her thoughtfully.

Sasuke huffed superiorly and walked towards the stairs.

"Oh well. I'm eating a energy bar at least. As long as I don't drink a whole bunch of water with it I shouldn't puke." Sakura muttered outloud ignoring Naruto and walking down the wall like she had done to get up to the roof in the first place.

Naruto looked after her curiously, she was acting different today. She didn't even ask Sasuke out today. Not to mention she gave him advice to turn his prank into a trap. Maybe he should follow her to see where she was going. He bolted down the stairs as quiet as a shadow. He could be steathly when he wanted to be. How else did he paint the Hokage mounument, in floresent orange, in broad daylight, in a ninja village without anyone noticing until he was done?

Sakura looked around. Maybe she could have one of her spars today. It would be good practice for tomorrow at any rate. As if waiting for her signal a loud familar shout caught her attention. She jumped up to the roof of a nearby house and followed the sound to training ground 9.

She arrived in time to watch Lee completely shatter a log with a move that made him spin rapidly upside down.

"Wow!" Sakura breathed.

"Sakura (-chan)!" a chorus of greetings came from three of the four members of Team Nine.

"Hello Guy-sensei, Lee-san, Tenten-chan, Neji-san." Sakura returned.

"Are you here for a youthful spar?" Lee asked cheerfully.

Sakura nodded. "I have to take my real genin test tomorrow and I figure a spar would be good to get me ready."

"Yosh! Will you spar with me today?" Lee asked eagerly.

Sakura nodded. "With or without weights?"

Lee looked to Guy-sensei for guidence.

"Go ahead and spar without them." Guy suggested.

"Yosh!" Lee shouted exited sitting down to unclasp his weights.

Sakura went through the three seal release sequence for the weights. "Kai." she muttered under her breath.

"Lee! Put them down softly. We don't need craters in the middle of our training grounds." Tenten scolded seeing Lee about to drop the weights.

"Sorry Tenten." Lee responded abashed as he gently set the weights to the side. Even though he put them down gently they sunk about two inches into the ground.

"Taijutsu only?" Sakura asked.

"Yosh!" Lee agreed.

"Count us down, Guy-sensei." Sakura called over to where the rest of Lee's team was standing off to the side watching.

"3...2...1...GO!" Guy shouted out enthusiasticly.

Both Sakura and Lee were still for a second before both disappeared in blurs of motion. They reappeared right inbetween where they had been standing. Sakura had barely ducked a strong punch and returned it with a short jab right into Lee's solar plexus. Sakura jumped back and went on the defensive as Lee recovered faster than she thought possible.

And suddenly it was a game of cat and mouse. Lee was the cat and Sakura the mouse. Yet Sakura was holding up well dodging all of the blows coming her way. 'Looks like the yoga and gymnastics I do actually helped with my flexibility.' Sakura observed as she ducked almost completely backwards to avoid a right jab.

Then she kicked her feet upwards driving them into Lee's stomach harshly as she flipped backwards onto her feet. Lee hadn't been expecting the hit because so far Sakura had been evasive.

Lee recovered quickly though and they were quickly back to fighting. This time Lee actually managed to hit Sakura a few times. Once in the arm and another time in the side. The last hit actually threw her back several feet but she quickly recovered her balance panting for breath.

She hadn't had a workout like this ever. It was intense. It was tiring. And it was exillerating.

She had spent too long thinking and she was suddenly knocked down by a spin kick. She rolled over out of the way of the follow up drop kick then flipped up onto her feet and attacked Lee back with a series of jabs directed at the pressure points in his arms. She had to consciously remind herself not to use chakra with each hit.

Finally she delivered a flat palm to Lee's chest sending him stumbling backwards. He stood shakely his arms were numb from the pressure points but he had dealt with worse from Neji. Sakura panted even harder now, all of her natural endurance was coming to an end. Soon she would have to use chakra to keep herself going. And the moment she did that was the moment she admitted defeat. She wouldn't do that. Lee had agreed to a Taijutsu only spar with her and she wouldn't break that deal.

Lee rushed her. Sweeping out with a barrage of kicks. His legs were still usable. Sakura dodged the first few but soon she was getting hit with all the kicks he was throwing until she was thrown back. She struggled to regain her feet but Lee was suddenly there his foot resting lightly over her throat. He could push down and cut off her air until she passed out or he could completely crush her throat killing her. He won.

"Winner Lee!" Gai announced loudly.

Lee quickly stepped away and helped Sakura to her feet.

"That was so cool." Tenten said appearing at Sakura's side. "No one but Guy-sensei can last that long against Lee with straight taijutsu."

"Thanks." Sakura muttered tiredly.

She turned to Lee "Good match." She shook his hand. Then noticed that his hands were still unwrapped from when he did his jutsu earlier. They were heavily calloused showing he worked hard for the strength he had.

"You too. You are most youthful in battle." Lee proclaimed. "If you had used chakra you would have won."

Sakura shrugged. "Straight taijutsu was the challenge. I wasn't about to go back on my word."

"What was that pressure point thing?" Lee asked absently rubbing his stiff arm.

"Part of the taijutsu I created. I got the idea from the Hyuga's juuken. I can't see chakra points like their eyes can so I target pressure points instead. I usually use a modified chakra scalpel with each blow to cause internal damage when I hit, but since I agreed to no chakra I didn't." Sakura told him easily. She was after all going to drop her fangirl act.

"Oh! Here let me." She said noticing he was rubbing one of the points she had hit. Her hand glowed mint green and she ran it over his arms releasing the tension she had caused on his pressure points.

"Medical ninjutsu." Guy observed.

Sakura nodded. "My parents own a book store. Half civilian, half ninja. I used to spend days reading extra books while I was in the back room."

"Sakura-san. Someone followed you." Neji said nodding off to one side.

"It probabily just Naruto. He's done it once or twice before." Sakura spoke to herself.

"Naruto?" Lee asked.

"He's my teammate. He's the one that painted the Hokage Monument the other day." Sakura explained.

"Oh, I saw the chunin having a hard time catching him." Tenten agreed.

"Yeah. He's good at pranks. I'm trying to teach him to use those skills in being a ninja." Sakura told them before turning to face where Neji had said Naruto was.

"Naruto! Come over here!" Sakura ordered.

Naruto hesitated for a second before landing several feet away from the group and walking over cautiously.

"Naruto meet Lee, Neji, Tenten, and Guy-sensei. Team Guy meet Naruto." Sakura introduced everyone before turning to Naruto. "Why did you follow me?"

Naruto looked a little nervous. "Well I was wondering if you could give me more ideas to make my pranks better since you suggested the itching powder in the chalk eraser."

Sakura shook her head exasperated. "That's to make your pranks into traps. To give you a few more skills in the ninja arts."

"Still, could you?" He asked.

"Sure. I could use some food. You're paying." Sakura said before turning back to Team Guy.

"Tenten, I'll spar with you the day after tommorow because I'm going to be exausted tomorrow. Lee I hope to spar with you again soon. Guy-sensei it was nice seeing you again. Nice hearing you can actually talk Neji, maybe we can have an actual conversation next time." Sakura said before dragging Naruto to Ichiraku's.

They sat side by side at the ramen bar.

"Hey Ayame! Get me three beef specials. Naruto's paying." Sakura called over to the waitress.

"Back again so soon? You usually space your visits out over weeks not within hours." She observed coming over. "What do you want, Naruto-kun?"

"2 miso, 2 pork, and 1 chicken." Naruto ordered.

"Coming right up." She said before turning to take the orders back to her father.

"So what kind of pranks do you have in mind?" Sakura asked turning to Naruto.

"I don't really have one of the top of my head. Why don't you tell me something I could've done to the pranks I've done before?" Naruto suggested.

"Well let's to the Hokage Monument Prank for simplicity. Now you did several hours worth of work in minutes, in broad daylight, in floresent orange, in a ninja village, without being caught at it until you were done. Then you evaded ninja several ranks above you for quite awhile. Right?" Sakura said turning her attention to him.

Naruto nodded looking a little confused at where this was going.

"Now imagine: you wearing black clothes at night sneeking into an enemy village with several hundred explosion tags and several hours worth of time to set those tags on all the important buildings you can find. Then imagine you getting out of the village and setting those tags off. Then you evade any hunter nins sent after you and return to Konoha, your mission successfully completed and your enemy several important buildings short." Sakura finished before breaking her chopsticks apart and muttering a quick 'idakamatsu' before she dug in.

Naruto looked thoughtful for several minutes as if imagining the scenario and adding his own thinking to it. Then his face brightened in understanding and he nodded.

"Say Sakura-chan. What if I could make solid clones?" He asked.

"What kind of solid clones?" She returned thoughtfully.

"There are more than one kind?" He asked confused.

"Sure, there's Mud Clones, Water Clones, Shadow Clones, Stone Clones, and some other less known clones." Sakura answered thoughtfully.

"Shadow Clones." Naruto answered.

"You know the Shadow Clone jutsu?" Sakura asked impressed.

"Yeah, it's a long story." He answered.

"You'll have to tell me later." Sakura ordered before going back to the situation at hand. "Okay Shadow Clones don't have a space limit they have to be near their creator like water clones and mud clones. Wait how many can you make?" She asked turning to him.

"I don't know. I made a thousand at once last night and wasn't tired." Naruto answered.

Sakura stared at him. "No way are you normal. You have to be like super human to have that much chakra."

Naruto looked a little embarassed and looked away.

"Okay say you make a couple for secrecy sake. They can last for awhile depending on the amount of chakra you put into them and as long as they aren't forcibly dispelled. So according to books I've read you can send them in for reconsasse purposes, they were favored because if they're killed everything they learn in their lives are transfered to the creator on their destruction."

"So one of my clones could learn a jutsu and I would know the jutsu when it dispelled?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah."

The rest of the meal was silent. Naruto thinking about what Sakura had told him and Sakura wondering how Naruto could produce so many clones without dying of chakra exaustion.

They parted ways, eager to go to sleep so they would be ready for the test the next day.

**A/N: I really like this story. I think I'll continue it after I finish my other stories even if no one votes for it. I've always wanted to write a strong Sakura fanfic. Tell me what you think.**


	4. Perfect Recall Version 20

**Perfect Recall Version 2.0**

**Summary: This is a re-write of one of my plot bunnies, Perfect recall. ****Naruto has all his "bad" memories blocked. This damages some functions of his brain. When he used Kyuubi's chakra in Wave it weakened the blocks. When he used Kyuubi's chakra in the Forest of Death the blocks shattered and he fell unconscious before Oroschimaru could use the five season seal.**

Naruto was shrouded in the Kyubi's chakra holding back an enormous snake from eating his frozen teammate. "What's wrong Scardy-cat?" Naruto taunted, using the same words Sasuke had previously used on him after their first encounter with enemy ninjas on their mission to Wave country.

Naruto felt a fierce headache start to pound in his temples and closed his eyes, blinking harshly trying to push the irratating and painful sensation away. He pried his eyes open when he felt something slimy wrap around his waist. He had only a second to feel disgusted that the creepy Grass ninja was using her tongue on him before his head pounded even more fiercely and his hold on consciousness blew away like a feather in a hurricane.

Much to the surprise of said Grass nin when 'her' captive when limp as a puppet with its strings cut. 'She' looked at the unconscious genin scrutinizingly before throwing him away from the fight and into a large tree (of course all trees in the forest of Death were large...). Sakura paniced slightly seeing her teammate falling to his obvious demise, but with a bit of quick thinking she managed to pin Naruto to the tree via a kunai in his hideous orange jumpsuit.

Sakura yelled at Sasuke for giving up, calling him a coward because even Naruto was brave enough to fight.

Naruto woke up groggily. Only to become really confused when he found himself sitting in murky, sewer water. Oddly enough the sewer actually didn't smell as bad as an actual sewer. He didn't recognize the place, but then again he hadn't bothered to memorize the sewers in Konoha either. But a nagging feeling floated to the front of his mind. Why was he in a sewer? He had been fighting that freaky grass nin in the second task of the Chunin Exam, hadn't he? Even though he didn't recognize the place, it felt familiar, almost like he had been here before. But he had only gone into a sewer once and it hadn't had odd red and blue pipes lighting it. He would remember something like that.

As soon as the feeling of familiarity was acknowledged he saw events pass in front of him rapidly.

**He was suddenly yanked out of the comforting warmth he had known for so long and the cold air bit at his skin. He was uncomfortable and he would be damned if he didn't let everyone around him know that he wasn't. His own wail broke the nearly silent night and he was gently toweled off and wrapped in a blanket, a blue one, and handed to a beautiful woman with gorgeous red hair who looked exausted.**

**The woman whispered comforting words, telling him everything would be alright, she loved him very much, he was her little Naruto-chan and he was perfect. He allowed the woman to calm him down as he recognized her voice. The same voice that had sang gently while rubbing his warm home and cooed that she loved him a lot. He also recognized the male voice that suddenly joined the woman in talking to him. He would also sing gently to both the woman and him and talking about a lot of things.**

**The woman, who must've been his mother handed off to a man who he belatedly recognized as the Fourth Hokage. "Naruto-chan, my perfect little boy." The Yondaime cooed tickling the baby gently on his stomach. That felt weird he shrieked a giggle even as he kicked his feet and threw his arms in the air in total freedom. **

**Suddenly without warning there was a pair of thuds and he was yanked out of his father's comforting hold. A piece of cold, sharp metal was held to his throat. A kunai. He shreiked this time in fear. **

**His father yelled at the man holding him. The man responded that he was going to make the Kyubi attack Konoha and if the Yondaime tried to stop him he was going to be short one son. Yondaime's eyes turned cold blue, hardening into the same type of glare that was reserved by the villagers only for Naruto.**

**Suddenly there was a massive amount of red chakra and the feeling of massive killing intent. Naruto felt his heart stop for a second before it restarted going almost three times the speed it had been thudding at previously.**

**A flash of Yellow and he was suddenly in his father's arms again and then he was on a pedistal circled by candles. His father rushed as he quickly painted lines on his stomach with ink. Naruto sensed it would be bad to move and ruin his father's work so he laid as still as his body would allow.**

**Suddenly they were on a massive toad who took one look at the Nine Tailed Fox wreaking havioc and without arguement carried the Yondaime and his son into the battle field. His father shifted him into a position where he could be held and his father's hands would still be free to perform handseals. Naruto watched with a sort of awe as his father went rapidly through the handseals. Then there was pain as a ghost-like hand forced its way through his stomach and grabbing the fox. With a yank, red chakra was pulled harshly out of the giant fox's body, and slowly the hand retreated back through his stomach pulling the massive chakra into the design drawn on Naruto's stomach.**

Naruto shrieked as the remembered agony of having toxic yokai forced into his undeveloped chakra coils.

**His father had transported them to where his mother was. They both held him tight as slowly the fox's chakra was pulled into his body. Suddenly the fox's very physical, very sharp claws shot towards them, mostly Naruto himself. He was suddenly whirled around and he felt blood spray over his body. He looked up to see his mother had been impaled through the stomach with two of the claws and his father had one claw in his arm and the other two also in his stomach. Naruto felt tears coarse down his cheeks as he sensed the wrongness of what had happened.**

_**"Naruto...You're going to experience a lot of pain and suffering. Remember who you are! Find a goal... a dream... and don't stop trying until it comes true. There's...there's so much more that I want to say...to teach you...I want to stay with you... I love you."**_** (Narutopedia)His mother told him.**

**His father spoke next. **_**"Naruto...This is your dad. Listen...to your motor-mouth mother."**_** (Narutopedia)**

**There was one last flash of yellow and they all collapsed in the Hokage's office. His mother and father stopped breathing at the exact same time and he was left to wail his grief to the empty office until the Sandaime came.**

Naruto felt tears course down his checks as the memory returned. But the images weren't done.

**He was either four or five, he had snuck out from the orphanage to see the Kyubi Festival as he wasn't allowed to go. He was looking behind him to make sure he hadn't been followed when he ran into a pair of legs that obviously belonged to an adult male. He looked up to apologize only to freeze at the bloodshot eyes that glared down at him with utter loathing.**

**Suddenly without relizing what was happening he was dragged into an alley. He tried to scream but a harsh hand slapped against his mouth stopping the sound from escaping. The man hit him harshly with an abandonned piece of pipe that was obviously thrown away because of how rusty it was. Naruto was hit in the throat with the pipe knocking any and all sound out of him. He felt the tube in his throat flatten slightly at the attack. But even as this happened he felt the damage being repaired. **

**He was too shocked to try to call out again when he was hit again. The nearly drunk villager swinging the metal pipe like a baseball bat at him, or maybe a golf club would be a better comparison considering he was on the ground and all. **

**After he was hit in the head for the fourth time he passed out unaware of the further damage that had been inflicted on his small body.**

**He woke up awhile later in a hospital bed. He stared at the white ceiling uncomprehendingly for several seconds before the soft sound of to men arguing caught his attention.**

**"Hokage-sama, you don't realize how dangerous this is. He could turn into a vegetable. He wouldn't even have motor-functions." The blonde haired man he vaguely recognized as Inoichi Yamanaka told the Hokage fiercely trying to change his leader's mind.**

**"You ****will**** seal his memories of this away. I ****won't**** have him terrorized by the memory of that monster beating him." The Sandaime ordered harshly. **

**Yamanaka looked at him with rebellion shining in his eyes but quietly bowed his head. "As you command, Hokage-sama." He said through gritted teeth.**

**The Sandaime ignored Yamanaka's displeasure and looked down at Naruto who had kept his eyes almost completely closed and only looking through the fuzzy area caused by two pairs of eyelashes barely being parted.**

**Yamanaka came closer and put his hand and Naruto's head and then nothing.**

Naruto watched the same procedure several times before he reached present time. Naruto sighed disappointed in the old man.

This sewer was the representation of his mind, and it was in disarray. All the memory seals had managed to delete any manners or school knowledge he had learned. Basically he was an idiot because he couldn't access his memories, which was how people learned. The Sandaime had managed to severely handicap him without meaning to.

He focused on what he wanted his mind to look like and he was suddenly in his team's training grounds, and the forest near it. He walked away from the relative saftey of the memorial stone as he went deeper into the forest following the river.

As he slowly traveled the forest got darker and darker, soon he reached a cave. There were iron bars across it making it look for all intents a jail cell.

As soon as he got close to the cave a massive paw shot out to hit him. It was stopped an inch before it reached his face, stopped by the seal on the gate.

"You must be the Kyubi." Naruto said unnessisarily. It wasn't like he had any other giant demon foxes with nine tails sealed in him.

"Stupid human. If it weren't for this seal I would devour you." The demon growled threateningly.

"Too bad for you." Naruto said in a deadpan.

"What do you want you unintelligent meat bag?" The fox demanded.

"Nothing." Naruto said. "I was brought here because the mind seals failed when I used your chakra." He explained.

The Demon Lord growled in annoyance. "Get out!" He snarled sending a wave of red chakra to push Naruto right out of his mindscape.

Naruto's last though before he was completely thrown out was "I'm getting kicked out of my own mind?" in incredousness.


	5. Incentive

**Incentive**

**Definition: Something inticing one to action or effort; a stimulus.**

**Summary: The wave mission let's Sakura see how bad off she really is.**

Sakura P.O.V:

I lay awake visions of the terrible wave mission flashing in my head. That one horrifying moment when I was sure I was dead. Zabuza's sword slicing threw the air towards me even as I gripped my kunai tighter determined not to fail the mission. Then a splash of warm blood but no pain. The horrifying moment when I opened my eyes and realized that Kakashi had intercepted the attack that was meant for me.

Every time I closed my eyes that moment drifted across my closed eyelids like a movie. I shook my head. I sort of wished I didn't have a photographic memory at times like this. One upside was I remembered the hand seals Zabuza used to create both the mist and his water clones and because of my perfect chakra control I could probably recreate both jutsu.

How was I so weak?! Even an academy student would've put up a better defense than I did. I thought long and hard about why I was weak and when it came to me I had to stop myself from denying it.

I was weak because of Uchiha Sasuke. If I wasn't infatuated with him I wouldn't care about how I looked. I wouldn't diet, I wouldn't worry about gaining muscles that might drive most civilian men away, and I wouldn't care about what others thought of me. I wouldn't spend hours in front of the mirror getting ready for a guy who probably wouldn't be interested in women until he was in his late twenties.

Then I scolded myself. I was blaming my problems on others. They were my problems. I needed to take care of it myself. From now on I was going to fix my problems.

Next mission I wouldn't need protection.

I would practice as much as was needed to catch up with both Naruto and Sasuke.

In the face of my almost death winning Sasuke's affection and love didn't matter. What use does a corpse have for love? Nothing. And I wouldn't be that corpse.

With that last thought I drifted into a dreamless sleep.

My alarm woke me at 6 am the next morning and I got out a notebook and began writting down what I needed to do.

Taijutsu: Speed, Strength, Stamina

Kenjutsu: Accuracy, Another weapon-maybe a sword or something

Genjutsu: Need to develop a few, practice dispelling

Sealing: Storage scrolls, paper bombs

Ninjutsu: Water clones, Hidden Mist; practice kawarimi, clone, henge until they don't need signs.

Medic Jutsu: basic first aid, mystical palm, chakra scalpels

I created a schedule and decided to start it today. I changed into a pair of black shorts and a black tank top. I jumped out of my window catching myself with chakra on the wall opposite of my window. I walked down to the ground and walked to the wall of the village.

I took off at a light jog going around the village. I was about half way around and I felt like I was going to die but I pushed myself to finish. A little bit of effort was going to be needed here. Along with dedication. I couldn't give up just because I was tired. I needed to be better, faster, stronger.

Finally I reached the point where I had started and leaned against the wall panting. That was pathetic. I was pathetic. No wonder Sasuke called me annoying. I was worthless as a ninja.

When I finally caught my breath I walked into the forest to find an unused training ground. I finally found one, it was in disrepair. It looked like everyone had just forgotten it existed and didn't take care of it anymore.

It would be mine from now on. I quickly went to work using gardening expertise I had learned in my D-rank missions to pull weeds and over grown vines away. Over the hours I worked the training ground slowly started to look like a training ground.

Broken logs were removed and replaced. Weeds were cut down to an inch tall. Tree branches were trimmed back. Slowly the training area took shape.

With an exhausted huff I flopped down for a quick rest. I looked around in awe. I had done something amazing. I had taken an abandoned area and turned it into a true training ground. I liked the symbolism. I was going to do the same thing to my body as I did to the training ground, get it in working order.

But first, a shower before I go to meet my team.


End file.
